Beverage glass with ice retaining means



July 3, 1956 w. B; LANGSTON BEVERAGE GLASS WITH ICE RETAINING MEANS Filed Dec. 21, 1953 IN VENTOR ATTORNEY United States Patent r BEVERAGE GLASS WITH .ICETRETAINING' MEANS William B. Langston, vMar'ionyS. C. Application December 21, 1953,, Serial No. 399,244.

3' Claims. (Cli. 210-463)) This invention relates to anovel beverage glass with a removable ice retainer and more'particularly to a combination beverage glass and ice retainer for preventing ice cubes and-large pieces ofice from moving-tothe rim of the glass into contact with' the mouthiof a person drinking from the glass.

More particularly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a novel retaining unit for ice-detachably mounted in a beverage glass adjacent the rim thereof through which ice may pass downwardly past the unit into the lower portion of the drinking glass and which unit automatically resumes a position to prevent the ice from thereafter moving upwardly past the retaining unit.

Another object of the invention is .to provide a retaining unit including a plurality of yieldably mounted elements capable of yielding downwardly to permit ice cubes or a spoon to pass downwardly into the lower portion of the glass and which yieldable elements are thereafiter spring biased back to substantially coplanar positions, substantially parallel to the rim of the glass and are held against upward displacement past said coplanar positions for retaining ice cubes in the lower portion of the glass and away from the upper end or rim.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter become more fully apparent from the following description of the drawing, illustrating one presently preferred embodiment thereof, and wherein:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of a beverage glass with the ice retainer, shown in elevation, disposed in an applied position therein;

Figure 2 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view through the beverage glass and ice retainer, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 3-3 of Figure 2, and

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 44 of Figure 2.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, the fipper portion 6 of a beverage glass is illustrated in Figure 1. The glass of which the portion 6 forms a part may be of any conventional construction and differs from a conventional drinking glass or tumbler only in that it is provided with an annular internal groove 7 disposed beneath and adjacent the rim 8 thereof. Furthermore, the drinking glass or tumbler may obviously be formed of any suitable material such as glass, various plastics or metal from which drinking tumblers are conventionally constructed.

In addition to the internally grooved glass or tumbler portion 7, the invention includes an ice retainer unit, designated generally 9, including 'a relatively large ring member 10 of tubular cross section formed of a material having sufiicient resiliency to be sprung out of the internal groove 7 and to pass through the upper portion of the glass or tumbler between said groove and the rim 8, to and from an applied position.

2,753,050 Patented? July. 3;.

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The detachable ice retainer unit 9* includes. a plurality of ice retainer elements; each designated generally- 11 and each formed from a strand ofi resilient wire: bent twprovide' an intermediate or bi-ght portion 1 2, a pair of legs: 13' which extend in: diverging relationship to one; another from theends of the bi 'ght portion lz-"and a pair of outturned leg terminals 14 forming' outturned extensions of the outer ends of the legs '13 and whi'ch extensions: are normally disposed substanti all-y in'alignments The-ice retainer .9 preferab'lyincludes four of said retainenelements 11, as. illustrated in Figure 2.

Thering' member 10 hassa hollow interior or bore: '15- of somewhat larger. internal. diameter than the: cross sec tional-1 size. or gauge of the wires forming the 'retain'ingl el'ek ments'll; Additionallyyifthe'ringmember 10 is-o'f seamilessconstruction,v as: illustrated; thewall thereof is pro" vided. with pairs. of circumferentially spacedls'lo-tsi 16, which pairscorrespond in numberto th'e number of ele mentsl 11',ifan'd1wherein" the slots-1'6: of. each 1 pair arelik'ewisetcircumferentially spaced; Each slot '16; as in us tratedainrFigure-x t, hasamupiper end'disposed at the "inner part of the ring 10 and slightly above the horizontal center thereof, and a lower end located adjacent the bottom of the ring 10. The slots 16 are each of a width somewhat greater than the cross sectional size of the wires forming the elements1'1, so that the outturned leg extensions 14 of the elements 11 can be inserted inwardly through the slots 16 by compressing the legs 13 for positioning the extensions 14 in the bore 15 and with the outer ends of the legs 13 disposed in the slots 16. Each of the elements 11 is thus mounted in a pair of the slots 16, as best illustrated in Figure 2. The leg extensions 14 will yield to substantially conform to the curvature of, the ring 10 when disposed in the bore 15 thereof and. portions of said extensions 14, located adjacent the legs; 13, will bear against the inner portion of the wall of? the bore 15 while the terminals of the extensions 14 willi bear against the outer portion of the bore wall, as seem in Figure 2. 7

Assuming that the ring 10 carrying the retaining clerments 11 has been inserted downwardly into the glass. or tumbler and said ring has been sprung into the groove: 7, as illustrated in the drawing, the tensioned leg extensions 14 will support the portions 12 and 13 of the ice retaining elements 11 substantially coplanar, as illustrated in Figure 3. After the liquid beverage has been applied to the glass or tumbler, cubes or chunks of ice, not shown, may be dropped into the tumbler or glass and upon striking the retainer element portions 12 and 13 will cause said portions to yield downwardly, as illustrated in dotted lines of Figure 3, to allow the ice to pass downwardly therethrough into the lower portion of the glass or tumbler. This downward movement of the ice retainer element portions 12 and 13 will be resisted by the extensions 14 which through frictional engagement with the wall of the bore 15 will turn only slightly relatively to the ring 10, so that the legs 13 will yield downwardly relatively to their outturned extensions 14. Consequently, after the ice chunks or cubes have passed out of engagement with the retainer element portions 12 and 13, said portions will be spring biased back to substantially their positions of Figure 2 to prevent the ice from passing back up into the top portion of the glass or tumbler when the latter is tilted by a person drinking therefrom, to thus keep the ice from reaching the lips of a person while drinking.

Obviously, the retaining elements 11 will function in the same manner to permit the bowl of a spoon to be passed downwardly into the bottom of the glass or tumbler.

The ring bore 15 does not necessarily have to be as large, relatively to the diameters of the leg extensions 14, as illustrated in the drawing and this is especially true where'the ring 10 is of seamed construction so that the leg extensions 14 may be positioned therein before the seam is closed. However, it is desirable that the leg extensions 14 not be clamped immovably in the ring bore.

Obviously, the retainer unit 9 may be removed from the glass or tumbler, as previously described, for proper cleaning thereof and of the glass or tumbler.

Various other modifications and changes are contemplated and may be resorted to, withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of the invention as hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A drinking receptacle with ice retaining means comprising a glass or tumbler having an annular internal groove disposed near the rim thereof, an ice retaining unit including a ring member having an outer portion engaging in said groove and supported thereby Within the glass or tumbler, a plurality of resilient ice retaining elements connected to and extending inwardly from said ring member and normally supported thereby in substantially coplanar positions, said ice retaining elements having adjacently disposed spaced inner free ends and being formed of resilient material for downward yielding movement under the weight of a piece of ice for releasing the ice to pass downwardly therebetween and being spring biased'upwa'rdly by the resiliency thereof for retaining the ice therebeneath, each of said ice retaining elements being formed from a single strand of resilient Wire including an intermediate portion forming said inner end thereof and a pair of legs extending from the ends of said intermediate portion and connected to the ring member.

2. A drinking receptacle with ice retaining means as in claim 1, the legs of each ice retaining element being disposed in diverging relationship relatively to one another from the intermediate portion and terminating in outturned extensions, and said ring member being of tubular cross section and providing a bore in which said leg extensions conformably fit and frictionally engage.

3. A drinking receptacle with ice retaining means as in claim 2, the wall of said ring member having slots extending transversely of its circumference between the inner side and bottom thereof in which portions of said legs are loosely disposed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,173,374 Nolda Feb. 29, 1916 2,136,755 Prince Nov. 15,1938 2,649,967 Tyson Aug. 25, 1953 

